BEIRUT, Lebanon: As a fragile ceasefire took effect in Gaza this month, Israel continues to carry out airstrikes in southern Lebanon—nearly 11 months into a ceasefire there.
The recent strikes targeted a construction equipment business, killing a Syrian passerby, injuring seven others, including two women, and destroying bulldozers and excavators worth millions of dollars.
While such attacks would be unusual in most countries not at war, near-daily Israeli air raids have become the norm in Lebanon, almost a year after a US-brokered truce ended the latest conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the AP news agency reported.
Some view this as a potential model for the Gaza ceasefire—marked by ongoing, lower-intensity clashes.
On Sunday, Israel conducted an airstrike in Gaza after accusing Hamas of firing at its forces, marking the first significant challenge to the US-brokered truce.
Mona Yacoubian, director of the Middle East program at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies think tank, described the Lebanon scenario as a “lessfire” rather than a ceasefire.
Lebanon “could well serve as a model for Gaza, effectively allowing Israeli forces to strike whenever they perceive a threat without triggering a full-scale conflict,” she said.
The most recent Israel-Hezbollah conflict began immediately after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza.
Hezbollah, primarily based in southern Lebanon, launched rockets into Israel in support of Hamas and the Palestinian cause. Israel responded with airstrikes and artillery shelling, with the low-intensity conflict escalating into full-scale war by September 2024.
The ceasefire agreement reached on November 27, 2024, required Lebanon to prevent armed groups from attacking Israel, while Israel agreed to halt “offensive” military operations in Lebanon.
The agreement allows both Israel and Lebanon to act in “self-defense,” though it does not specify the parameters of this provision.
Both parties may report alleged violations to a monitoring committee comprising representatives from the US, France, Israel, Lebanon, and the UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL, although the agreement remains unclear on enforcement mechanisms.
Lebanon says that Israel’s strikes, including the October 11 one, often harm civilians and destroy civilian infrastructure.
According to Lebanon’s health ministry more than 270 people killed and around 850 wounded by Israeli military actions since the ceasefire.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called the strikes “blatant aggression against civilian facilities.”
